Self-locking drive type rivet



Patented Mar. 4, 1952 SELF-LOCKING DRIVE TYPE RIVET John A.SchroedenAndrew W. Bower, and Martin 'Graber, Denver, 0010.

Application June 30, 1949, Serial No. 102,392

1 Claim.

- This invention relates to a bolt for attaching wooden decking in steelrailway freight cars. The modern steel railway freight cars have woodenfloors or decks consisting of relatively heavy planking bolted to thesteel deck of the car by means of a plurality of roundheaded,carriagetype bolts. It is an exceedingly time-consuming job to place allof these bolts in position, since it requires one man on the deck toinsert the bolts, and another man under the car to tighten the nutsthereon. The nuts also become loosened, due to the vibration of the carand shrinkage of the floor planks, so that it is a constant maintenancejob to maintain these nuts tightened.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a bolt which willeliminate all of the above-noted disadvantages of the presentcarriage-type bolt, and which canbe quickly and easily installed by oneman from a position above the deck; which will not require a nut or awrench; and which can be instantly tightened at any time by simplyrapping the head of the bolt with a hammer.

Other objects and advantages reside in the cletail construction of theinvention which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efliciency.These will become more apparent from the fol-' lowing description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is hadto the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout thedescription.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side View of the improved deck-attaching bolt;

Fig. 2 is a similar view, looking in the direction of the arrow 2, Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is an edge view of a wedge element employed with the improvedbolt;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the wedge element;

Fig. 5 is a top view of the wedge element;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section through the wedge element, taken on theline 66, Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a vertical section through a typical freight car deck,illustrating various steps in the installation of the improved bolt;

Fig. 8 is a side view of an alternate form of the improved deck bolt,illustrating it inserted in a typical deck; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of an alternate form of wedge member foruse with the improved bolts.

In Fig. '7 a typical metal deck plate is indicated at I8 over whichwooden deck planks I9 are to be secured. I

The form of bolt illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a shank portionI 9 provided with a head II. The extremity of the shank is split, asindicated at I2, to form two opposed legs I3 havmember is formed from acylindrical blank having a diameter corresponding to the diameter of theshank III. The two sides of the blank are milled or otherwise formed soas to incline in-, wardly toward each other to form two curvated,inclined, opposed wedge surfaces I 4 extending upwardly from acylindrical base I5 and forming at the top a diametrically extending,narrow entering edge I6.

A projecting lug I1 is formed on the cylindrical wedge member at eachextremity of the entering edge I6. The lugs II project outwardly fromthe sides of the wedge member, and extend downwardly therealong forapproximately one-third of its length.

To install the improved bolt, a hole 20 is drilled downwardly throughthe deck planks I9 and through the metal deck I8, forming a bolt opening2| in the latter, as shown at A, Fig. 7. One of the wedge members is nowdropped or driven into the hole 20 until it passes through the hole 2|,where it will be supported by the projecting lugs I'I overlying theupper surface of the metal deck plate I8, as shown at B in Fig. 7. Thebolt shank III is now inserted into the hole 20 with the legs I3extending on opposite sides of the entering edge It of the wedge member,as shown at C in Fig. '7. The head I I is now driven downwardly to thesurface of the deck planks I9, which causes the two arcuate flaringwedge surfaces I4 to spread the two legs I3, as shown at D in Fig. 7, tofirmly lock the bolt to the deck plate I8.

The hole 20 may be drilled slightly larger than the hole 2 I, as shownin Fig. 8, so that the wedge member may be simply dropped therein.However, since the wood is relatively soft, the wedge member may besimply driven downwardly through the hole 20, if the latter is the samediameter as the hole 2|, by means of a driving instrument of anysuitable design. In the latter case the legs I! will cut or deformgrooves in the sides of the hole 20, as indicated at 22 in Fig. 7.

To facilitate the driving of the wedge into the hole 20 the form ofwedge member shown in Fig. 9 may be used. This form has a cylindricalbase 23, of the diameter of the bolt shank, with oppositely inclinedwedge faces 24 and entering edge 25 similar to the previously describedform of Fig. 3. In this form, however, two opposed projecting lugs 26are employed having pointed or sharpened bottom surfaces 21 whichfacilitate driving the lugs through wooden sides of the hole 20.

In Fig. 8 an alternate form of bolt is illustrated having a head 28, anenlarged upper shank 29 and a reduced lower shank 30. The lower shank 30is bifurcated as shown at 3| similarly to the bolt illustrated in Fig.l. A wedge member 32 is employed, similar to the wedge member of Fig. 3and having two opposite holding bosses 35. A groove 33 is formed in thewedge member of this form for the reception of a ridge or projection 34formed mom of the furcations of the shank 3B.

The purpose of the groove 33 and projection 34 is to hold the wedgemember in the shank 30 as a component part thereof so that the two maybe packed, delivered and used as a complete unit.

The enlarged upper shank 29 has the same diameter as the diameter of thewedge member 32 including the projecting bosses 35. In installing thealternate form of Fig. 8, a hole 35,. having a diameter to receive theenlarged shank 29, is drilled through the wooden deck 19 and a smallerhole 3], approximatingthe diameter of the smaller shank 30, .is drilledthrough the steel deck 18. This allows the entire assembly to beinserted downwardlyto the position of Fig. --8 with the'lugs 35 restingon the steel deck. The head 28 is then driven down, causing theiurcations of the shank 30 to spread and lock the bolt in place as shownat Din Fig. '7.

The bolt will be made with various lengths of shanks to accommodatedecks of varying thicknesses.

While a Specific form of the improvement has been described'andillustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied,within 30 Number 4 the scope of the appended claim, without departingfrom the spirit of the invention. 7

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired securedby Letters Patent is: An expansion bolt for attaching a wooden deck to ametallic deck plate comprising: a bolt shank; a head on one extremity ofsaid shank; two legs formed on the other extremity of said shank bysplitting the latter; outwardly flared inner faces on said legs defininga wedge-shaped notch between said legs; the outer faces of said legsdefining a cylinder; a wedge member positioned in said wedge-shapednotch; lugs projecting oppositely outward from said wedge member beyondthe circumference of said shank; said lugs being positioned adjacent theupper extremity of said wedge member and adapted to contact the metallicdeck plate; and a sharpened lower edge on each lug to' facilitatedriving the latter through said deck.

JOHN A. SCHROEDER.

ANDREW W. BOWER.

MARTIN GRABER.

REFERENCES CITED The following. references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

' UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Dillon Dec. 15, 1914 Hojnowski Jan.15, 1924 Annett 2d et al Oct. 15, 1946

